Shoe sole



K. WIESSNER Oct. 3, 1939.

SHOE some Filed Feb. 9, 1937 Patented Oct. 3, 1939 UNITED? STATES,

SHOE SOLE Kurt Wiessncr, Vienna, Austria Application February .9, 1937, Serial In Austria February 15, 1936 3 Claims.

for footwear such as slippers or sandals.

It is the object of the invention to provide a sole which exerts an orthopedic effect upon structural defects or deformities of the foot, such as collapsed instep, spread foot, and tilted foot. The sole according to the invention may also be designed, however, for use as an inserted sole in ordinary foot-wear. The sole may also be permanently incorporated with the shoe in a manner commonly practiced in the shoe-making trade, either as an inner sole in conjunction with a conventional welt, or in such a manner that itis capable itself of serving at'the same time as an outer sole.

In order to produce the orthopedic eflect, I make the upper surface of the sole convex instead of concave, as usual, arrange a central elevation at the upper surface which slopes toward the sides and toward the toe end of the sole, make the sole of an elastic material possessing considerable resistance to bending stress, for instance, wood, and in its heel portion I make a slot, or gap, which extends in parallel relation to the tread of the sole from the rear end of its heel portion substantially as far as its center at the outer side of the sole, and for a shorter. distance. at its inner side. In this manner, the front end of the slot or. gap is defined by a line at an oblique angle to the central longitudinal axis of the sole.

If the sole is made of ply-wood the slot or gap is obtained by making at least one of the plies so short that it does not extend as far as the end of the heel, so that the, gap is defined by this shorter ply and the two plies of normal length above and below it. By these means, the portions, or plies, of the sole separated by the slotting or gaps are capable of resilient movement relatively to each other. gaps provided preferably extend from the rear edge (heel) of the sole to beneath the middle part of the foot and end obliquely to the longitudinal axis of the sole.

The slotting may be eflected in a variety of ways. For example, in the case of a solid sole of wood, the slot may be sawp or milled out of the sole.

Instead of a. single gap there may also be provided a plurality of gaps. If desired, the gaps may be filled -with material of less resistance to compression than the material of which the remainder of the sole is made, such filling being either partial or complete.

Two forms of construction of the invention The slotting or.

(Cl. 368.5) This invention relates to shoe soles, primarily are shown diagrammatically, by way of example, in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig; 1 shows a wooden sandal in plan view.

Fig.. 2 shows the same in longitudinal section on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows, in plan view, a sole suitable for use in a slipper of the same nature or as a. loose sole for insertion in an existing shoe.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectionon the line H of Fig. 3.

In Figs. 1 and 2 0. denotes a wooden sole whose upper surface is convex, and has the configuration which appears from Fig. 2. A central elevation g slopes towards the sides of the sole transversely, and towards its toe end longitu-l5 dinally. Preferably, there is also a gentle slope from the elevation towards the heel end of the sole. i

In its heel portion, the sole is divided into two mutually resilient layers by a gap or slot b ex- 20 tending from the rear end of the heel to beneath the middle of the foot to a point It at the outer side of the sole, from where'it extends obliquely to the longitudinal axis of the sole to a point i at its inner side, as indicated by the dotted line 25 in Fig. 1. The leather strip d is attached to the sole a by means ofthe pegs or nails 0. The leather strip d is so dimensioned and arranged that the upper side of the foot is also tensioned in walking. j

In the form of construction shown in Figs. 3 and 4 there are provided a plurality of plies a of relatively thin material (wood veneer, fibre, metal, cork, or the like) of which the forward end portions, to lie beneath the toes and ball 35 of the foot, are stepped back from the lowermost to the uppermost as shown in section in Fig. 4 and lie loosely one upon the other. The relative length of the several plies a. is so determined that the upper face of the built-up sole has the 40 same configuration as that of the solid sole in Figs. 1 and 2. Under the heel portion, and extending up to beneath the middle of the foot, some of the plies are cut away so that a plurality of slots or gaps b are formed which allow 45 of mutual resilient movement of the remaining layers or plies a over the area concerned. The plies constituting the sole are joined together approximately in themiddle for example by means of nails or spikes e, and are provided with holes 1 for the reception of centering pegs for the purpose of holding the plies a in their proper relative positions during assembly. v

The slots or gaps may, if desired, be filled in with material, such for example as rubber, which 56 is more readily compressible than the material of which the plies a are made.

In the built-up sole, the next topmost ply a which extends as far as the rear end of the heel portion, is just below the topmost and shortest ply of the sole, so that there is practically no difierence in altitude between the highest elevation of the sole and its heel portion.

I claim: v

1. In a sole for sandalsand similar footwear which is made of .a resilient material possessing considerable resistance to bending stress and has therein a slot extending in parallel relation to the tread of the sole from the rear end of its heel portion substantially as far as its center at the outer side of the sole, and for a shorter distance at its inner side; and a central elevation at the upper surface of the sole which slopes toward the sides and toward the toe end-of the sole.

2. In a. sole for sandals and similar foot-wear which is made of a resilient material possessing considerable resistance to bending stress and has therein a slot extending in parallel relation to the thread of the sole fr m the rear end of its heel portion substantially as far as its center at the outer side of the sole, and for a shorter distance at its inner side; and a central elevation at the upper surface of the sole which slopes toward the sides and the .toe and heel ends of the sole.

3. In asole for sandals and similar footwear which is built up from plies of a resilient material possessing considerable resistance to bending stress, a combination of longer and shorter plies defining a slot extending in parallel relation to the tread of the sole from the rear end of its heel portion substantially as tar as its center at the outer side of the sole, and for a shorter distance at its inner side; and a central elevation at the uppersurface of the sole which slopes toward the sides and toward the toe end m of the sole.

KURT WIESSNER. 

